[LINK] Obama urges calm, caution and activation of online social networks.

[Jan Whitaker]

At 11:03 AM 5/05/2009, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>And the justification that "we cannot afford to take any chances" is a
>load of brown stuff. It's all about balancing chances, not eliminating
>them, which is impossible.
>
>Governments and the voters don't like statements of the form  - "We will
>take reasonable precautions in line with the risks, but some people
>might die. That's what happens in real life."

There was a similar exchange on Sunday on 7 about those who deal with 
child immunisation decisions. Someone needs to explain to parents 
that just because something isn't 100% guaranteed effective or 
without risk doesn't mean you don't do it. And that seems to be the 
thinking of the anti-vaccine people -- if you can't assure me my kid 
won't get a rash or a sniffy nose, I'm not vaccinating him/her. It's 
daft! So they'd rather risk re-emergance of polio and other diseases?

I believe this to be another casualty of 'if it bleeds, it leads' 
journalism (sic) and policy by anecdote. The model the general public 
has now is based on it for their own decision-making. Loss of trust 
in those who should know [sometimes warranted, btw] is coming home to 
roost. 'Magic' now has more sway than logic and even common sense. 
The Secret has a lot to answer for. Oh, and can we blame short 
messaging, too? ::wink::

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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